A2 English Language Unit 3 - How to structure a language acquisition paragraph

Hi! My English 'language change and acquisition' exam is in several weeks and I don't actually know how to write a successful explanation. I'm still stuck in the 'Point, Evidence, and Explanation' style method.

I haven't done any essay practice since coursework started, so I can't remember how to write the explanation apart from what the teachers said: 'use a triangle method and cover A01, A02, and A03'. It hasn't helped and now I'm panicking. I need more detail than that... for example, how to make one little feature last a whole paragraph. It absolutely baffles me!

Can anyone suggest a structure, or a sequence of things I should or shouldn't do, or which questions to ask myself so that I can at least follow something logical?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 1

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Reply 2

12hazza13

Yehh, me too! I need help with this

Reply 3

M4Y

Original post by 12hazza13

Yehh, me too! I need help with this

Hi! I'm glad I'm not the only one stabbing in the dark... My exam is next week, so I had to come up with something, here goes...

Language Change:

Paragraph Plan:
A01: 3 features of 1 framework, e.g. Complex sentences + compound sentences and omission of the definite article (the), all under the framework of grammar. Include examples from the text. Then talk about:
A02: What do you know about this type of change... standardization, informalization, register, mode? A02 stuff... 'what you know'. Then talk about:
A03: What was happening at the time when this text was written, which contextual factors such as the Johnson's dictionary, education, women's roles changing... etc.

Language acquisition:

A01: 3 features of 1 framework, e.g. Simple sentences + 1 word utterances and omission of the definite article (the), all under the framework of grammar. Include examples from the text. Then talk about:
A02: What does the theories say about this? Other A02 features, e.g. lexical fields (I think...?)
A03: What is the child doing, who are they with, what is their age, what is influencing their use of the A01 features above?

The A01/2/3 do not have to be in that order. You can start with any first.

A01 frameworks:
Lexis
Grammar
Discourse
Phonology
Pragmatics
Semantics
Graphology
Orthography

Essay plan for both acquisition and change:
3-4 sides of A4
1 paragraph is half of a page in length
6-8 paragraphs
10 context points
10ish A02 points (my logical guess O.O)
18-24 A01 points with possible locations.

It took me an awful lot of digging to get this far. I just hope the method works because I haven't tried it! Use at own risk!

Hope it helps though! :smile:

Reply 4

getmetolawschool

also if you want to target the higher grades my teacher told us to focus more specifically on theories and lead with that rather than a framework but this seems bonkers and fairly hard.

Reply 5

M4Y

Original post by getmetolawschool

also if you want to target the higher grades my teacher told us to focus more specifically on theories and lead with that rather than a framework but this seems bonkers and fairly hard.

Well... I have a reputation of making things for difficult for myself, but I don't know what else to do - I have tried everything except my method and no luck. I need to get an A, but that has not happened once so far (I get a lot of B's, sometimes quite high), and I am into my second year. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Also, my English teacher said I needed an 'issue' in language change. What does that mean?

My current method was to outline a point (A01), name the change (A02) and then to describe why it was used and how this is different to today. What issue do I need? I cover everything: A01, A02 and A03, but still not enough... I'm getting quite frustrated... what more do they want? :confused:

Thanks for the reply, though, I'm really grateful :smile:

Reply 6

getmetolawschool

Original post by M4Y

Thanks for the reply, though, I'm really grateful :smile:

i think by "issue" they may have meant something a03 wise to link in with your a01 point or try to find the salient features of a01 in the text and really go to town with multiple analysis of your point that should score the high marks (you'd hope)